The invention relates to a method for operating a management network of a telecommunications network, in which the manager and the agent communicate with each other using an object model.
TMN (TMN: Telecommunications Management Network) principle, a plurality of management layers exist for the management of a communication system—such as for example of a mobile radio communication system—with each layer, with the exception of the highest and lowest layer, having a dual function, namely a manager function and an agent function. In the managing system each layer except for the lowest exercises a manager function for the layer below it. In the managed system each layer except for the uppermost layer is given an agent function for the next-higher layer.
For network monitoring and control, managers start operations in which they send out what are referred to as “requests” which are executed by agents, and receive corresponding acknowledgements, referred to as “responses”, from the agents. Elements of the telecommunications network, also referred to as resources of the telecommunications network, which in the TMN hierarchy exercise the role of an agent, detect relevant occurrences known as “events”, for example alarms, generate the appropriate notifications, and transmit them to managers in the form of what are known as event reports to make possible an efficient network management system.
Network management can include functions such as fault management and/or configuration management and/or security management and/or accounting management and/or performance management. Network management is designed to provide suitable protection mechanisms for information distribution and -administration, so that if necessary a comprehensive picture of the network status is available and the individual objects of the telecommunications network can be efficiently monitored and configured.
Manager and agent communicate using what are known as management interfaces or manager-agent interfaces, which in an object-oriented environment are identified by a communication protocol, such as CMIP (Common Management Information Protocol) according to ITU-T X.711 or CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture), and by an object model. Object models are used for modeling of resources of the telecommunications network, with these resources being subdivided during modeling into object classes.
Such interfaces are present for example between the network element management level on one side and the network element level on the other side. An example of network devices of this manager-agent interface are the operation and maintenance centers (OMC) on the network element management level side, as well as on network element level side devices such as base stations of the base station system (BSS) of a GSM mobile radio network, or base stations of other communication networks, for example Node Bs of a UMTS mobile radio network (UMTS) or radio access points of a WLAN (WLAN: Wireless Local Area Network) system for example in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 Standards.
Management interfaces or manager-agent interfaces also exist between the network management level on one side and the network element management level on the other side. Network Management Centers (NMC) represent an example of network devices for this manager-agent interface on the network management level side and Operation and Maintenance Centers (OMC) on the network element management level side, e.g. in the GSM network mentioned or in another mobile radio or telecommunications network.